o be.

* * * * *

If my word of warning could reach those engaged in taking measures at
Washington to prevent the spread of epidemic and infectious diseases in
our stock, it would be "go slow." If the wishes of a few veterinarians
are met and the demands of a raft of pauper lawyers and politicians are
complied with, it will result in the creation of a half dozen
commissions. Each one of them, as previous ones have done, will find
sufficient reason for their continuance and reports will be made that
half the live stock in the country, South and West, is either in danger
from or suffering under some of the many forms of epidemic or infectious
diseases--and by the way, what justice is there in putting Detmers out
of the way, and clinging to Salmon and Laws, both of whom indorsed
nearly every thing the former did? Beware of commissions, and above all
of putting men upon them whose bread and butter is of more consequence
to them than the stock interest, vast as it is.

B. F. J.

WAYSIDE NOTES.

BY A MAN OF THE PRAIRIE.

Of the 2,500,000 packages of seeds distributed by the United States
Agricultural Department during last year more than 2,000,000 packages
were furnished to Congressmen, and I notice that some of the papers are
making unfavorable comments on the fact. Now I do not discover anything
that seems to me radically wrong in this practice of the Department of
Agriculture, or rather in the instructions under which the practice
prevails. There are some men, mostly seedsmen, and some publishers,
mostly those interested in securing patronage through seed premiums, or
which are run in the interest of seed dealers, who grumble a great deal
about this matter, and who sneer at the department and derisively call
it the "Government seed store." But I imagine if the public was
thoroughly informed of the good the department has done by its seed
distributions, it would have a great deal better opinion of this branch
than it now has, and I wish Mr. Dodge, or some other efficient man, who
knows all about it from the beginning would give to the country a
complete history of what has been done in the way of introducing and
disseminating new seeds, plants, and cuttings. I believe if the whole
truth were told it would put an end to ridicule and denunciation. I am
aware that there have been some things connected with this work that
were not exactly correct. There may have been some helpin